Songs of the Green Rider
by Chelsea Deanne
Summary: What if Bard Martin had managed to compose a song or two about the life of a Green Rider before his end? A collection of what might have been, and of what was lost.
1. Rider's Call

Rider's Call

o-o-o-o-o-o

When hoofbeats pound within your breast  
And your soul cries out to sing  
Come ride beneath a forest cloak  
Where horses take to wing

A merchant girl lay down her wares  
Lay down her rank and name  
Kissed her father on the cheek  
And to the king she came

And hoofbeats beat upon the road  
So hang onto the reins  
And hoofbeats beat within your heart  
As the call sings through your veins

A scholar boy from Selium  
Put down his quill and sighed  
His manuscript would have to wait  
For now he had to ride

And hoofbeats take you for a ride  
Over hills and plains  
And hoofbeats flee from bitter tongues  
So leave them to their games

An orphan girl without a name  
She heard the rider's song  
And found beneath the winged horse  
A place she could belong

And hoofbeats echo through the night  
Beneath the starlit sky  
Where the scent of dew takes to the wind  
And horses seem to fly

A mender lad knelt by bedside  
All swathed in robes of blue  
He rose and walked to rider's hall  
To wear a different hue

And hoofbeats ring on cobbled streets  
As shod hooves hit the stone  
Through alleys and by marketplace  
To bring the message home

And hoofbeats drum into a song  
Of triumph over strife  
And though I did not choose the tune  
I do not regret this life.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Author's note:

I tried to capture the nature of the rider's call, how it would call anyone regardless of their station in life, and it's insistence. And I'm aware they didn't find Ben until they lost Bard, but he can't have been the only healer in the thousand-year history of the Green Riders.


	2. Saverill's Child

Saverill's Child (Jendara's Lament)

o-o-o-o-o-o

Saverill's Child  
Is that who I am?  
I wonder…

I, who from my first steps  
Walked down a path to greatness  
But I knew not the way

Saverill's Child  
Is that who I am?  
I wonder…

Why did I not notice  
When shadows began to appear?  
Why did I stride, so righteous   
deeper into gloom?

Saverill's Child  
Is that who I am?  
I wonder…

I could have turned back.  
I should have.  
But now it is too late.   
I am lost  
Yet I will not admit it

Saverill's Child  
Is that who I am?  
I wonder…

A lifetime of wrong choices  
Steps in the wrong direction  
Surely this darkness will end?

Saverill's Child  
Is that who I am?  
I wonder…

A light!  
A single, correct choice.  
Not enough to bring me back  
But I will go no further

Saverill's Child  
That is who I am.  
I know now.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Author's note: I wondered how Jendara fell. She wasn't an evil person to begin with, and she ended up doing something right in the end. Actually, she reminds me of an abused lover, fiercely clinging to the dream of the man she fell in love with while ignoring the man as he stands before her. And poor Jendara, to be caught up in the perversion that is Amilton, probably the closest you can get to born evil.


	3. Ballad of Karigan G'ladheon

The Ballad of Karigan G'ladheon

o-o-o-o-o-o

Ride hard now, lass, ride hard  
Pick up your skirts now, don't delay  
For I've a message to the king that can not wait  
And my horse, he knows the way.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Author's note:

I keep intending to write the entire ballad of Karigan's ride with F'ryan at her heels, which is pretty much the first book, but everything except this part (which is supposed to be the chorus) comes out sounding corny. So you just get this. For now, at least.


	4. Ode to the Green Horse

Ode to the Green Horse  
(a child's song)

o-o-o-o-o-o

I'll tell you a tale of a beast with a tail  
at it's back and two eyes at the front…  
and a coarse shining coat (and no it's not a goat)  
it has hooves you can ride to the hunt.

It may look like a horse, smells like one of course  
and when saddled you might take a ride…  
but listen to me and I'm sure you will see  
there's a whole 'nother creature inside.

If you think you can ride 'em just sitting astride 'em  
a lesson your bottom will learn…  
they're not just a nag to bear any old hag  
it's a privilege you surely must earn.

And of course it's a horse that will keep you on course  
and that's all that you really do need…  
for the path that you travel will never unravel  
when you put all your trust in your steed.

And that is a horse that is not quite a horse  
but a horse like you never have seen…  
runs faster and farther than any mount known  
with it's rider all cloaked in Green.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Author's note:

Have you ever watched a foal jumping around a field, kicking back it's legs and running in no particular direction, just for the sake of moving? That's what I though of as I wrote this, and I ended up with a child's tune with a hint of a tongue-twister. Try reading it aloud and you'll fall into an almost hoofbeat rhythm. I'm proud of this silly twiddle.


End file.
